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Decoy Bird
We flash back to see what Denton was up to during the celebrations at King’s Mills. Denton chatted with the men he led into battle and learns a rumor. Apparently this isn’t the only town that’s been beset by a fairy curse. To the south, a city named Rosglen was completely overwhelmed and overrun by another fairy queen named Erlina. Denton recalls that Erlina was the name of the fairy that tricked the frog-god Quartle into eating the poison root and corrupting his domain. He makes a note of the location, and the party continues on their quest. In Cardun, the party is about to leave when Grub is stopped by a guard at the entrance to their inn. A startled Grub makes a break for it, using her new shape shifting trick to take on the form of an innocuous dandelion, while Denton confirms with the guard he was merely here to deliver a letter asking Grub and her companions to meet with King Reighland, the current monarch of Cardun. A suspicious Grub arranged for some safety precautions in the form of a decoy bird, while the rest put on their sunday best (or saturday worst in the case of Liam, hoping to disguise his Glenrothian Noble blood) and they make their way up the steep mountain path to Castle Cardun, a harsh, flat stone structure built into the mountain. They meet with Reighland, discovering his peculiar collection of porcelain models of himself, and his true purpose for summoning them here. The town and nearby trade routes have been plagued by a group of bandits known as the Wild Hunt, that use shapeshifting powers to steal from Cardun and it’s citizens. Seeing the opportunity to gain a powerful ally that also opposes Glenroth and King Stuthbert, the party agrees to help and arranges a fake convoy to draw the bandits out. Their ploy works and en route they are attacked by the Wild Hunt: two large birds of prey swoop down and pull the reigns from Bundly’s hands throwing his wagon off course and towards the cliff, while one of the horses on the second wagon sharply changes direction and hurls itself and the cart off the edge. Bundly tries to regain control of the horses, but has to bail at the last moment before the cart hurtles over the edge with Grub still inside, though safe in her moth form. Connor leaps from the second cart at the last moment, barely grabbing onto a branch sticking out from the cliff and Denton rushes over to pull him to safety, but losing his sword off the side of the cliff in the process. Denton sees the crashed cart on the ledge below him, and notices only one horse, and a hitherto unseen man in leather armor wielding a hand crossbow skidding his way down the side of the cliff and towards the crashed cart. Denton and Connor chase after them, but not without Connor taking a nasty blow from one of the hawks. On the path, Liam faces off against the hawks, landing a fierce punch on one and knocking it to the ground.